Lunch at the Opera House. E33mm, 1/250 @ f5.6 ISO 125 Hand Held |
Art Gallery of New South Wales FZ1000, E25mm, 1/60 @ f4, ISO 1000, Hand Held |
Fixed zoom lens
cameras have been around for quite some time. Most have been consumer compacts. But a more
highly specified camera type has been evolving steadily.
Panasonic produced the FZ1 in 2002 with a specification
quite similar in some ways to the current FZ1000. Both
lenses have a long zoom range and bright aperture. Both have a built in
EVF. Both are substantial in form. Both are pitched at the photographer who
wants a camera which can handle almost any assignment including those requiring
a long lens.
Since the FZ1 Panasonic has produced the FZ10, 20, 3, 5, 30,
50, 8, 18, 28, 35, 38, 100, 40, 45, 47, 48, 150, 60, 200 and 70. I may have
missed a few, there are so many.
Although the theme of the FZ series has been consistent over
the years big changes have occurred to the technology inside the cameras.
Consider the imaging sensor. The CCD in the FZ1 had a diagonal of 5.7mm and 2, that is not a misprint, megapixels. In 2006
the FZ50 had a considerably larger 10 megapixel CCD with a diagonal of 8.9mm. By 2012 the FZ200 had changed to a CMOS type
sensor with 12 megapixels but a smaller diagonal of 7.67mm.
These cameras delivered
good picture quality considering their very small sensors and were very
versatile.
The first FZ camera which came into our house was the FZ200,
in 2013. My wife and I thought it was quite an impressive performer in many
respects but it's picture quality made no case for either of us to give up our
interchangeable lens cameras (ILC), both of which had a much larger sensor.
Many people call the FZ series and similar cameras from
other makers "Bridge" cameras. Presumably they are perceived as a
"bridge" between compacts and ILCs.
The FZ1000 makes the biggest jump in sensor size and
resolution since the FZ series began. It uses a 20 megapixel back illuminated
CMOS type imager with a diagonal of 15.86mm.
In the past such an increase in sensor size and resolution would have required
a massive increase in the size and cost of the lens. But advances in aspheric technology have made
it possible to contain lens size on the FZ100 to a remarkable degree.
I don't regard the FZ1000 as a "bridge", but a
fully realised photographic device able to stand alone and produce excellent
pictures in a wide range of circumstances. I see it as a game changer that
could have the potential to encourage many people to abandon their present
attachment to DSLRs and MILCs.
I like to call it a Fixed Zoom Lens Camera (FZLC).
I suspect we will see more high specification versions of this
camera type in the near future from all the main manufacturers, with variations
on the VZ theme.
No comments:
Post a Comment